By a facile water evaporation process without adding any directing agent, Cu2‐xSe nanowire bundles with diameters of 100–300 nm and lengths up to hundreds of micrometers, which comprise crystalline nanowires with diameters of 5–8 nm, are obtained. Experiments reveal the initial formation/stacking of CuSe nanoplates and the subsequent transformation to the Cu2‐xSe nanowire bundles. A water‐evaporation‐induced self‐assembly (WEISA) mechanism is proposed, which highlights the driving force of evaporation in promoting the nanoplate stacking, CuSe‐to‐Cu2‐xSe transformation and the growth/bundling of the Cu2‐xSe nanowires. The simplicity, benignancy, scalability, and high‐yield of the synthesis of this important nanowire material herald its numerous applications. As one example, the use of the Cu2‐xSe nanowire bundles as a photoluminescence‐type sensor of humidity is demonstrated, which shows good sensitivity, ideal linearity, quick response/recovery and long lifetime in a very wide humidity range at room temperature.

BackgroundRecent evidence suggests that aberrant activation of Hedgehog (Hh) signaling by Gli transcription factors is characteristic of a variety of aggressive human carcinomas including ovarian cancer. Therefore, chemotherapeutic agents that inhibit activation of Gli transcription factors have emerged as promising novel therapeutic drugs for ovarian cancer.ResultsIn this study, we show that activation of Hh signaling promoted cellular migration and invasion, whereas blockade of Hh signaling with GANT61 suppressed cellular migration and invasion in ovarian cancer cells. After treatment with GANT61, cDNA microarray analyses revealed changes in many genes such as Integrin β4 subunit (ITGB4), focal adhesion kinase (FAK), etc. Furthermore, ITGB4 expression was up-regulated by Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) ligand and down-regulated by Hh signaling inhibitor. The Shh-mediated ovarian cell migration and invasion was blocked by neutralizing antibodies to ITGB4. In addition, phosphorylations of FAK were increased by Shh and decreased by Hh signaling inhibitor. Inhibition of Gli1 expression using siRNA mimicked the effects of GANT61 treatment, supporting the specificity of GANT61. Further investigations showed that activation of FAK was required for Shh-mediated cell migration and invasion. Finally, we found that down-regulation of Gli reduced the expression of ITGB4 and the phosphorylated FAK, resulting in the inhibition of tumor growth in vivo.ConclusionsThe Hh signaling pathway induces cell migration and invasion through ITGB4-mediated activation of FAK in ovarian cancer. Our findings suggest that the diminishment of crosstalk between phosphorylated FAK and ITGB4 due to the down-regulation of Gli family transcription factors might play a pivotal role for inhibiting ovarian cancer progression.

e Ethambutol (EMB) plays a pivotal role in the chemotherapy of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB), including multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). Resistance to EMB is considered to be caused by mutations in the embCAB operon (embC, embA, and embB). In this study, we analyzed the embCAB mutations among 139 MDR-TB isolates from China and found a possible association between embCAB operon mutation and EMB resistance. Our data indicate that 56.8% of MDR-TB isolates are resistant to EMB, and 82.2% of EMB-resistant isolates belong to the Beijing family. Overall, 110 (79.1%) MDR-TB isolates had at least one mutation in the embCAB operon. The majority of mutations were present in the embB gene and the embA upstream region, which also displayed significant correlations with EMB resistance. The most common mutations occurred at codon 306 in embB (embB306), followed by embB406, embA(؊16), and embB497. Mutations at embB306 were associated with EMB resistance. DNA sequencing of embB306 -497 was the best strategy for detecting EMB resistance, with 89.9% sensitivity, 58.3% specificity, and 76.3% accuracy. Additionally, embB306 had limited value as a candidate predictor for EMB resistance among MDR-TB infections in China.M ultidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is attributed to an estimated 3.7% new cases and 20.2% previously treated cases of TB annually worldwide and is becoming a major threat to global public health (1). In China, the significantly high prevalence (5.7% new cases and 25.6% previously treated cases) of MDR-TB makes TB control especially challenging (2). Ethambutol (EMB) is an important first-line anti-TB drug routinely recommended for therapy of drug-resistant TB, including MDR-TB. Disturbingly, in some regions of China, substantial proportions (51.3% to 66.7%) of MDR-TB isolates demonstrated EMB resistance (3-5). Development of new rapid and reliable molecular methods for detecting drug resistance is essential to optimize treatment regimens, prevent treatment failure, and thus reduce the further spread of drug-resistant isolates. However, these molecular assays require precise knowledge of the genetic mutations associated with drug resistance. Prior studies indicated that the characteristics of resistance-associated mutations vary in different regions (6, 7). EMB acts against TB by inhibiting membrane-associated arabinosyl transferases encoded by the embCAB operon (including embC, embA, and embB), which are involved in the synthesis of cell wall arabinogalactan (8,9). Approximately 50% to 70% of EMB-resistant TB isolates harbor mutations in a relatively short fragment (codons 306 -497) in embB genes, with mutations occurring most frequently at codon 306 in embB (embB306), embB406, and embB497 (5,8,(10)(11)(12)(13). Sequence analysis of this fragment has been a tool for the rapid detection of EMB resistance. However, approximately one third of EMB-resistant isolates do not carry changes in this region and therefore are not detectable by using DNA sequencing (12,14). Although other mutations in the embCAB...

Uterine prolapse complicating pregnancy is rare. Two cases are presented here: one patient had uterine prolapse at both her second and third pregnancy, and the other developed only once prolapse during pregnancy. This report will analyze etiology, clinical characteristics, complication, and treatment of uterine prolapse in pregnancy. Routine gynecologic examination should be carried out during pregnancy. If uterine prolapse occurred, conservative treatment could be used to prolong the gestational period as far as possible. Vaginal delivery is possible, but caesarean section seems a better alternative when prolapsed uterus cannot resolve during childbirth.

BackgroundRecent evidence suggests that aberrant activation of Hedgehog (Hh) signaling by Gli transcription factors is characteristic of a variety of aggressive human carcinomas including gastric cancer. Speckle-type POZ protein, SPOP, is an E3 ubiquitin ligase adaptor, and it is found to inhibit oncogenic signaling. However, the molecular mechanisms are largely unknown.MethodsIn this study, we characterized the expression of SPOP in 88 pairs of gastric cancer tissues and adjacent tissues by immunohistochemical staining and Western blotting. The relationship between SPOP expression and clinical pathologic factors was analyzed. Transfected gastric cancer cell lines were used in cell viability, wound healing and colony formation assays. The interaction of SPOP with Gli2 and other related apoptotic proteins was assessed by immunoprecipitation, Western blotting, real-time PCR and dual luciferase reporter assays. Intracellular interaction of SPOP and Gli2 was visualized by immunofluorescent staining in gastric cancer cells.ResultsImmunohistochemical staining of SPOP can be detected in gastric cancer tissues but much less than adjacent gastric tissues (P < 0.01). High SPOP expression is negatively correlated with lymph node metastasis, poor histological differentiation, and tumor malignancy according to TNM staging. In vitro experiments revealed that over-expression of SPOP prevented tumor cells from proliferation, migration and colony formation in gastric cancer cell lines. Likewise, repression of SPOP promoted cell viability, migration, proliferation, and attenuated apoptosis. Mechanistic studies revealed that increasing SPOP accelerated Gli2 degradation but regardless of Gli2 synthesis. Furthermore, cytoplasmic Gli2 decreased markedly along with the abundant expression of SPOP in MKN45 cells.ConclusionsOur findings indicate that SPOP plays critical roles in suppressing gastric tumorigenesis through inhibiting Hh/Gli2 signaling pathway. It may provide an alternative strategy for developing therapeutic agents of gastric cancer in future.

Hedgehog (Hh) signalling plays an important role in cancer; however, its mechanism in ovarian cancer migration and invasion remains unclear. In the present study, we aimed to clarify the effect of the Hh signalling pathway on ovarian cancer migration and invasion through the regulation of CD24 expression, both in vitro and in vivo. Patients with ovarian cancer (n = 97) were recruited for this study. Evaluation of the explored the role parameters of patients indicated that CD24 expression was negatively associated with age, histological type and lymph node metastasis (p>0.05), but was positively associated with the clinical stage and pathological grading (p<0.05).The in vitro results indicated that the activator (sonic hedgehog, Shh) and inhibitor (GANT61) of Hh signalling significantly enhanced and reduced CD24 expression, respectively, at both the gene and protein levels (p<0.05).The addition of Shh significantly enhanced cellular migration and invasion of SKOV3 cells in vitro (p<0.05) Down regulation of CD24 using siRNA inhibited the tumour-promoting effects of Shh, and the in vivo results confirmed that GANT61 significantly inhibited CD24 expression and reduced tumour growth (p<0.01). In conclusion, the expression of CD24 can be regulated by Hh signalling, and downregulation of CD24 could play an important role in inhibiting ovarian cancer progression.

Background: Limited evidence exists on the incidence of gastric cancer (GC), and contradictory results exist for the prognosis of GC based on the Lauren classification. We analyzed the incidence and survival of GC based on the Lauren classification. Methods: The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database from 1975 through 2015 was used to identify all patients with surgically resected, histologically diagnosed intestinal or diffused-type GC. Propensity score matching was used to analyze the association between the Lauren classification type and prognosis. Results: The trend of total GC incidence showed an obvious decrease (APC = −1.51, 95% CI: −2.31 to −1.01) as well as that of the intestinal type (APC = −1.43, 95% CI: −2.01 to −1.12). However, we found that the relative incidence of the diffused type was increased (APC = 0.6, 95% CI: 0.41–0.82). The trend of the total incidence of GC (APC = −1.31, 95% CI: −1.91 to −1.03) and that of the intestinal type (APC = −1.11, 95% CI: −1.53 to −0.98) was decreased in 40–49-year-olds, but that of the diffused type was increased (APC = 1.5, 95% CI: 1.2–1.72). We found that trends in GC incidence exhibited a similar pattern in the regional and distant stages and showed a decrease from 1975 through 2015. However, the incidence rate of the local stage was increased, with an APC of 0.5 (95% CI: 0.3–0.7). We identified 15,989 GC cases from the SEER database, including 13,852 intestinal-type and 2,138 diffused-type cases. The 1,336 intestinal-type cases were matched with 1,336 diffused-type cases using propensity score matching (PSM), and patients with the diffused type had a better prognosis than patients with the intestinal type (HR = 0.56, 95% CI: 0.45–0.78). However, we found that patients with diffused-type GC had worse survival than patients with intestinal-type GC in the cohort from Renji Hospital ( P < 0.001). Conclusion: The total incidence of GC and that of the intestinal-type GC decreased, but the incidence of diffused-type GC increased in 40–49-year-olds. Diffused types of GCs may have a different prognosis compared to intestinal-type GCs in different patient cohorts. Nevertheless, these results should be interpreted with caution in assessing the prognosis in combination with other factors.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been recognized as promising delivery vehicles for gene therapy of tumors. Gastric cancer is the third leading cause of worldwide cancer mortality, and novel treatment modalities are urgently needed. NK4 is an antagonist of hepatocyte growth factor receptors (Met) which are often aberrantly activated in gastric cancer and thus represent a useful candidate for targeted therapies. This study investigated MSC-delivered NK4 gene therapy in nude mice bearing gastric cancer xenografts. MSCs were transduced with lentiviral vectors carrying NK4 complementary DNA or enhanced green fluorescent protein (GFP). Such transduction did not change the phenotype of MSCs. Gastric cancer xenografts were established in BALB/C nude mice, and the mice were treated with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), MSCs-GFP, Lenti-NK4, or MSCs-NK4. The tropism of MSCs toward gastric cancer cells was determined by an in vitro migration assay using MKN45 cells, GES-1 cells and human fibroblasts and their presence in tumor xenografts. Tumor growth, tumor cell apoptosis and intratumoral microvessel density of tumor tissue were measured in nude mice bearing gastric cancer xenografts treated with PBS, MSCs-GFP, Lenti-NK4, or MSCs-NK4 via tail vein injection. The results showed that MSCs migrated preferably to gastric cancer cells in vitro. Systemic MSCs-NK4 injection significantly suppressed the growth of gastric cancer xenografts. MSCs-NK4 migrated and accumulated in tumor tissues after systemic injection. The microvessel density of tumor xenografts was decreased, and tumor cellular apoptosis was significantly induced in the mice treated with MSCs-NK4 compared to control mice. These findings demonstrate that MSC-based NK4 gene therapy can obviously inhibit the growth of gastric cancer xenografts, and MSCs are a better vehicle for NK4 gene therapy than lentiviral vectors. Further studies are warranted to explore the efficacy and safety of the MSC-based NK4 gene therapy in animals and cancer patients.